Introduction

Samantha--the fashionable wife of a successful businessman and doting mother of one--struggles to negotiate the spheres of intimacy between her husband and her family of origin. Samantha loves her husband, Richard, and she loves her sister, Elizabeth. But the two of them can barely exist in the same room, which has caused the entire family years of emotional distress. Yet it’s not until Samantha’s sister is diagnosed at age forty-three with lung cancer that her family and her marriage are tipped into full-blown crisis.

A story of love, loss, forgiveness, learning to live with grief, and healing, Appearances will resonate with anyone who has ever experienced tension in their familial relationships--even as it serves as a poignant reminder that no amount of privilege can protect us from family conflicts, marital difficulty, or mortality.

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Excerpt

Chapter One

Before I receive the phone call that separates my life into before and after, I am out with my husband, Richard A. Freeman, at a fund-raiser in a swank suburb of Boston. It’s for Pine Manor College, where Richard is on the board: a small private school in the affluent suburb of Chestnut Hill, named for a stretch of trees that once ran from Dunster Street to Reservoir Lane. Richard, a Harvard Business School graduate with a career in private equity—which I google whenever I have to explain it—thrives on boards like this. It’s in his blood to give back, especially to those without the financial means that my husband has worked his whole life to achieve. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. What is the significance of the title Appearances?
2. Why do you think Elizabeth’s husband Jake could accept her close relationship with Samantha and Samantha’s husband could not?
3. What was Samantha’s role in the love triangle with her, Elizabeth and Richard?
4. Discuss the concept of having enough love in one’s heart for a husband and a sister.
5. How do you feel Jake handled Elizabeth’s illness?
6. Do you think Samantha and Richard will end up staying married?

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